Credit history is extremely important for anyone living in the United States. Whether it’s the interest rate on a mortgage or auto loan, or your approval odds when applying for a credit card, all of these are directly tied to your credit report. For international students who have just arrived in the US, getting a credit card as early as possible not only helps you start building credit sooner, but also lets you enjoy many of the perks offered by US credit cards: free flights and hotel stays, complimentary rental car insurance, extended warranty protection on purchases, and lots of cash back.
First, we recommend reading Credit Report and Credit Score. One important thing to know is that after you apply for a credit card, the bank will request a copy of your credit report from a credit bureau. This is commonly known as a Hard Pull, and each Hard Pull will lower your credit score slightly, reducing your chances of getting approved for your next card. Of course, as long as you use the card responsibly and pay on time after approval, your credit score can recover easily. In addition, most credit cards come with a welcome bonus requirement, usually in the form of spending a certain amount within the first three months after opening the card in order to earn a reward. That’s why it’s important to apply for credit cards with a plan.

Starter Credit Cards

So how should beginners start applying for credit cards? Many people think you must have an SSN in order to apply, because online application forms always require one. In reality, that is not true. By applying in person at a bank branch, even without an SSN you can generally get at least the following two cards:

Among them, ThankYou Preferred earns 2x ThankYou Points on dining, worth about 2.6% back (this assumes you also have a Citi Prestige; considering the coming TYP devaluation next year, the valuation can no longer reach the old 3.2%), and 1x ThankYou Points on all other spending. BofA 123 earns 3% on gas, 2% at supermarkets, and 1% on everything else. Of these two cards, the author recommends Citi more highly. After all, when it comes to credit cards, BofA is less competitive than major issuers like Citi, Chase, and AMEX, and it may require a certain amount of deposits before approval. In practice, however, the deciding factor is often simply which bank has a branch near your school. In any case, once you get your first credit card, you can start building credit history, whether or not you have an SSN. After you receive your SSN, just remember to report it to the bank.
If you are able to get an SSN soon after arriving in the US, then Discover should be a must-have card for almost everyone:

Discover it is a card you can apply for online with no prior credit history at all. It offers rotating 5% bonus categories each quarter; click the link above for details.
After applying for these cards, you can take a break, because most other good cards are unlikely to approve you before you have at least three months of credit history. Once you reach three months of credit history, one card you can try is AMEX Everyday. This is a standard grocery card, but as an AMEX credit card it comes with an extra perk: AMEX is fairly generous with credit limits, so getting this card can quickly raise your total available credit. Even if the initial credit line is not high, AMEX also has its famous 61-day 3x credit-limit increase policy. For most starter cards, the initial limit is usually hard to get above 1,000, and sometimes you may even need to prepay the card just to buy a flight home. This AMEX card can easily solve that awkward problem.
The last “starter card” that must be mentioned is Chase Freedom, along with its sister card Chase Freedom Unlimited. The former offers rotating 5% bonus categories each quarter (actual value about 9%), plus 1% on other purchases (actual value about 1.8%). The latter offers 1.5% on everything (actual value about 2.7%).

We put quotation marks around “starter card” because this card can no longer be obtained simply by placing a large deposit with the bank, and if you apply directly, it is actually fairly difficult for a beginner card. Of course, the difficulty varies from person to person. In the author’s case, after already having nine months of credit history and three credit cards, the application was denied at first; after calling recon and pleading the case, approval finally came with a rock-bottom limit of 500. The strongest example among the author’s classmates had only three months of credit history and just one credit card; after an initial denial, they called recon and got approved. Even that felt pretty unbelievable. All in all, the author’s suggestion is this: once you have 2-3 credit cards (and have held each one for at least three months), and your credit history is over six months old, go ahead and apply for Chase Freedom, while also being prepared to call recon if you get denied. In fact, Chase is famous for being “hard to break into,” so the no-annual-fee Chase Freedom is almost always the best entry point into Chase credit cards. Also, Chase has the notorious 5/24 rule (if you have opened 5 or more new credit card accounts in the past 24 months, Chase will not approve you), so we still recommend applying for Chase Freedom (or Chase Freedom Unlimited) as early as possible.

Guided by the Important Principle of “Three Credit Cards,” and Putting a Scientific Card-Use Strategy into Practice

Once you get to around six months of credit history, the number of credit cards you can apply for increases significantly. At that point, it’s time to follow the important principle of “three credit cards” and put a scientific card-use strategy into practice.

The Important Principle of “Three Credit Cards”

First, every credit card has different strengths. Some cards focus on groceries, such as AMEX Everyday and Sallie Mae; others focus on travel benefits, such as Chase Sapphire Preferred, and so on. These differences divide cards into different types. What the author means by “three credit cards” is a grocery card, a dining card, and a gas card. These do not have to be three fixed cards forever. As card benefits change—especially with the quarterly rotating 5x bonus categories on Freedom and Discover—the best card to use for groceries, dining, and gas will also keep changing. But you should always have at least one card for each of these three categories.

A. Grocery Card

Common grocery cards include the following:

us-supermarket

Sallie Mae generally requires about one year of credit history before you can get approved, so it is not recommended for beginners. Among the other four cards, if you can make 30 purchases per month, then EDP should be your first choice: it earns 4.5x MR points at supermarkets with a $95 annual fee, roughly equivalent to 8.1% back. If you cannot reach 30 purchases, then consider ED or BCP. ED earns 2x MR points at supermarkets, or 2.4x if you make 20 purchases per month, equivalent to 3.6% (or 4.32%) back. BCP earns 6% cash back at supermarkets, but it has a $75 annual fee. If you do not want an annual-fee card, you can just use ED for groceries. Note that under AMEX’s definition, Walmart and Target do not count as supermarkets, while under Sallie Mae’s definition, some Walmart and Target locations do count as supermarkets. The author also wants to remind readers that most Chinese supermarkets and Chinese restaurants do not accept AMEX.

B. Dining Card

Common dining cards include:

  • Citi ThankYou Preferred for College Students (2x)
  • AMEX Premier Rewards Gold (2x)
  • Chase Sapphire Preferred (2x)

These cards respectively earn 2x TYP, UR, and MR points on dining. Citi ThankYou Preferred is a no-annual-fee card, although TYP points are worth a bit less than the other two currencies. Chase Sapphire Preferred, however, comes with rental car insurance, making it a card many people choose to keep, so using it for dining is also a very good option.

C. Gas Card

Common gas cards include:

  • Sallie Mae (5x)
  • BofA 123 (3x)
  • AMEX Blue Cash Everyday (2x) / Preferred (3x)
  • AMEX Everyday Preferred（2x, or 3x if you make 30 purchases in the month）

Although Sallie Mae offers 5% cash back, the monthly cap is only $250. For amounts above that, you could use BofA 123 for 3% cash back. But if your monthly gas spending is only a little over $250, then using an Everything 2% card does not cost you much, so there is no need to apply specifically for BofA 123 just for gas. The author also does not recommend any BofA card. If you do not have Sallie Mae, then using the Blue Cash series for gas is recommended, or you can use these cards to buy gas gift cards at supermarkets and earn 6x/3x back.

Other Spending Categories

For spending outside of dining, groceries, and gas—such as airfare—you can also consider getting specialized cards for those categories.
For example, Chase Sapphire Preferred earns 2x UR points on travel purchases such as airfare, hotels, and rental cars. Citi ThankYou Premier, Citi Prestige, and AMEX Premier Rewards Gold can earn 3x TYP or MR points on airfare.
For other miscellaneous spending categories, it is also a good idea to keep an Everything 2% cash-back card. New Discover it cards currently come with a first-year cashback match on all rewards earned, which effectively turns it into an Everything 2% card. After that promotion expires, cards worth considering include Citi Double Cash and FIA. These cards have no annual fee and make it very easy to earn 2% back.

A Scientific Card-Use Strategy

After getting the right credit cards, it is naturally also important to know which card to use for each purchase. There is a mobile app called WalletUp that can help you choose the right card. Of course, if you do not want to bother with an app and cannot remember all the various bonus rates offered by different cards, choosing the right card is still not very hard.
First of all, you should always make sure you can complete the welcome bonus spending requirement on a new card.
After that, since the 5x categories on Discover and Freedom change only once per quarter, your gas card, dining card, and grocery card choices are usually fixed within a given quarter: if a Discover or Freedom 5x category matches one of those spending categories, then naturally you should use that card first. Otherwise, you need to know the value of different points currencies. Point valuations vary from person to person depending on your needs. If you have no idea how to value them, the author suggests valuing TYP at 1.6 cents/point, and UR MR at 1.8 cents/point. With some simple math, you can determine which card to use for each of these three categories. Just remember those three cards and don’t mix them up. As for how to redeem these three types of points at those values, click the names of the points currencies for detailed guides.
For most other miscellaneous spending categories, such as auto insurance, the recommendation is to put them on an Everything 2% card.